Hero-Myths and Legends of the British Race

Page: 187

The Saxon Patriot

Hereward was, naturally, the darling hero of the
Saxons, and for the patriotism of his splendid defence
of Ely they forgave his final surrender to William the
Norman; then they attributed to him all the virtues
supposed to be inherent in the free-born, and all the
glorious valour on which the English prided themselves;
and, lastly, they surrounded his death with a
halo of desperate fighting, and made his last conflict as
wonderful as that of Roland at Roncesvalles. If Roland
is the ideal of Norman feudal chivalry, Hereward is

Hereward’s Youth

For this holy vocation she fixed on her second son,
Hereward, a wild, wayward lad, with long golden curls,
eyes of different colours, one grey, one blue, great
breadth and strength of limb, and a wild and ungovernable
temper which made him difficult of control. This
reckless lad the Lady Godiva vainly tried to educate
for the monkish life, but he utterly refused to adopt
her scheme, would not master any but the barest
rudiments of learning, and spent his time in wrestling,
boxing, fighting and all manly exercises. Despairing
of making him an ecclesiastic, his mother set herself to
inspire him with a noble ideal of knighthood, but his
wildness and recklessness increased with his years, and
often his mother had to stand between the riotous lad
and his father’s deserved anger.